Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Beerenauslese
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed 10 to 40 years from the vintage release, though top vintages can easily cellar for half a century or more.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Blue cheese, peach tart, foie gras
✨ wine.spec_sheet
The Kirchspiel vineyard in Westhofen is shaped like a majestic limestone amphitheater that opens towards the Rhine, shielding the vines from cold westerly winds while capturing the gentle morning sun. In exceptional vintages, Weingut Wittmann harnesses this unique microclimate to produce their rare Beerenauslese. This noble sweet elixir is crafted from individually hand-selected grapes shriveled by botrytis (noble rot). Wittmann's biodynamic farming practices allow the deep limestone and clay-marl soils of the Kirchspiel to express themselves with remarkable clarity. The resulting wine is a masterclass in tension, balancing luscious, honeyed concentration with the electric, vibrating acidity characteristic of great Rheinhessen Riesling.
🍾 wine.about_producer
With a winegrowing heritage in the Rheinhessen village of Westhofen dating back to 1663, Weingut Wittmann is a pioneering force in German biodynamic viticulture, having committed to organic practices in 1990 and biodynamics in 2004. Managed today by Philipp Wittmann alongside his family, the estate is globally revered for its precise, terroir-driven dry Rieslings sourced from legendary Grosses Gewächs sites like Morstein, Kirchspiel, and Aulerde. In their historic vaulted cellar built in 1829, the wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged in traditional large oak casks, resulting in structured, mineral-rich expressions of outstanding longevity.